


girlfriend

by makeashadow_ao3



Category: Legacies (TV 2018)
Genre: F/F, Female Friendship, Fluffy, Hizzie - Freeform, Jealousy, fake couple, holiday prompt
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-12-26
Updated: 2019-12-26
Packaged: 2021-02-26 03:02:40
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,951
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/21966154
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/makeashadow_ao3/pseuds/makeashadow_ao3
Summary: It’s winter break and instead of Hope being alone at the school, Lizzie invites her to Boston to meet their grandfather.For Hope Mikaelson Yuletide 2019
Relationships: Hope Mikaelson/Lizzie Saltzman
Comments: 8
Kudos: 125





	girlfriend

**Author's Note:**

> this is the response to a fluffy holiday prompt from malachai-hades-parker. hizzie + pretending to be a couple. 
> 
> happy merry, y’all!

The woods are quiet. A light breeze ruffles tendrils at her temple, which she tucks behind her ear. Bark of the felled tree she’s perched on chips under the backs of her legs every time she shifts.

Flashes of white dart behind the brush, the predator creature stalking, getting ever so closer. 

She yawns and picks at her thumbnail. It’s late.

The air stills, there’s a soft rustling just to her left, and then a barefoot girl steps out of the tree line. She’s wrapped in an oversized cardigan, the rest of her clothes yards away. Folded on the waiting girl’s lap.

“I could really hurt you, you know. I’m not always in control of my wolf instincts.”

Lizzie scoffs. “Yeah, you, Raf, Jed, and literally every other werewolf on campus. That doesn’t stop my father from enrolling any of you or having the rest of us share chemistry notes.”

The blonde hands over the stack of clothes. “You’ve been wolfing out a lot lately.”

“What can I say? I hate the holidays and wolves only have to pay tribute to the moon. It’s simpler.”

“Are you going home?”

Hope turns her back and hangs her sweater on a bush. She dresses and Lizzie tries to ignore the way the moonlight follows her pale curves.

“No. When Malivore erased me from everyone’s memories, my aunts and uncles all made plans that didn’t include their orphaned niece. There’s nothing for me in New Orleans right now.”

Lizzie averts her eyes to the quivering branches. “Come with us.”

The tribrid throws a glance over her shoulder as she snaps the hooks of her bra in place. “Who? Where?”

“Me, Josie, and Dad are going to visit his dad. He’s old, a little senile, and gives us loads of money to go shopping.”

“What happened to me crashing family trips?” Hope still flinches whenever she sees a Volkswagen beetle. 

“It’s different when you’re invited. _ I’m _ inviting you. Now say yes before I officially un-invite you.”

The boys are all gone. Kaleb dragged Sebastian along on a guys’ trip to Maryland. MG and Landon want more direct answers about Triad and the latest whereabouts of the portal via Mrs. Greasley. Rafael went to spend break in North Carolina with his father.

Covered up, she faces the siphon. A quizzical expression overtakes her face. “Sure, okay.”

  
  
  
  


The drive to Boston is spent in bumper to bumper traffic. Interstate 95 is a parking lot and no amount of magic gets them there faster. They’d know. Lizzie tried until her reserve depletes. 

Josie sits in the front passenger seat of the Camaro and listens to music most of the way. It keeps her car sickness at bay as well as the awkwardness. Hope and Josie have been on shaky ground since Landon’s return. They’re cordial in the hallways but the proximity is still uncomfortable.

  
  
  
  
  


Lizzie shakes Hope, asleep on her shoulder. She jerks up. 

They’re parked in the unkempt yard in front of a doublewide trailer, a stout man sticking his large head through Josie’s window. His nose and cheeks are red with broken veins and his bushy white facial hair could use a good grooming. 

“Where’s Pen?” He cranes his head to peer into the backseat.

Josie shrinks. “She moved. I told you that.”

“Oh, yeah,” he muses with no recollection. “Well, Lizzie brought herself a new girl. Cute as a bug. Samantha, right?”

“Actually…”

“No, G-Pa, you’re thinking of _ Sebastian. _Ugh, can’t believe I told you about _ him. _No, this is Hope. Our… My...er.”

“Girlfriend?” she blurts out. Alaric frowns while Josie turns to stare dumbfounded at the two. 

Hope grabs the hand sandwiched between their thighs and clutches it. “I’m her girlfriend. It’s nice to meet you, Mister Saltzman. I’ve heard absolutely nothing about you.”

His face brightens and he laughs heartily, which turns into a smoker’s cough. “I like her, Lizzie bee.”

The four exit the car. The elder Saltzman claps his son on the back then leads him inside for a welcome home drink. The brunette eyes the other two girls as they climb out of the backseat. 

“Girlfriend?” She sends accusatory glares her sister’s way.

Hope shrugs. “I panicked.”

“I, for one, am glad you did. I can’t explain to him how yet another boy used me—and a vampire at that.”

There’s something brewing in Josie’s dark gaze, but she buttons her lips in a pronounced frown and huffs. “Just don’t make this weirder than it already is.” 

She elbows past and grabs her duffel from the trunk before making her way up the rickety wooden steps to the trailer.

Hope and Lizzie share a knowing glance then grab their bags and head inside.

  
  
  
  


The days leading up to Christmas are a festive, busy blur. 

Josie opts to sleep on the couch instead of share the king size bed in Alaric’s old room. The twins’ grandfather gives them wads of money and they drive the Camaro into the blustery city to go shopping. 

Josie quickly disappears, but Lizzie isn’t too perturbed. Her sister was only bringing down her cheerful mood and no one gets to be a grinch—not even Hope. 

As if the tribrid has time to be a grump. Between crowded stores, long lines at coffee shops, wrapping gifts, and cooking pastries, there isn’t a moment to herself or her thoughts. Lizzie is always right there, linking their elbows or holding her hand, even when G-Pa isn’t around. Josie isn’t too far away, the silently sulking third wheel or faking her holiday cheer like she cast the Krampus spell on herself.

  
  
  
  


They spend Christmas day in their pajamas trading expensive gifts, drinking lots of hot cocoa, and watching super old movies on television. At least when the reception is good enough for the antenna to grab.

When _ It’s a Wonderful Life _ turns to static, G-Pa regales stories of Alaric’s childhood. The middle aged man turns red more times than the girls can keep count, sipping his spiked apple cider and chiming in when there are gaps in his father’s memory.

Hope leans over to whisper in Lizzie’s ear. “Your grandpa is, like, Santa.”

“If Santa were an alcoholic and swore like a sailor, sure.” The two grin at each other, faces close, having snuck a little rum into their cocoa. 

A noise breaks them out of their haze, Josie loudly cleaning up wrapping paper from the middle of the floor. It isn’t long before she excuses herself with a headache and escapes to the back room.

The tall blonde rolls her eyes and follows her twin. Hope thinks she should, too, but G-Pa grabs her attention. 

“How long have you and Lizzie bee been dating?” He rocks back and forth in his recliner.

“Yeah, Hope,” Alaric adds. He’s suspected the jig but he could be completely off base. He often is.

“Not long.”

“Well, I hope you stick around. Lizzie is sensitive. Whatever Jo has going on, she’ll get over. She’s a tough nut, that one. Could nab any and everyone she could ever want. All she has to do is speak up and the world is hers.

“But Elizabeth has a harder mountain to climb. Once people throw out that C word, it’s like that’s all that person will ever be. It’s all anyone will ever see. But you—”

He points a chubby finger directly at Hope. “You see Lizzie bee. And that’s all that matters to her ol’ G-Pa.”

  
  
  
  


She means no offense by it, but Lizzie asks Hope to trade with Josie. Sleep on the couch so the twins can cuddle and reconcile. Of course the brunette is jealous. Of course she knows it’s just a temporary ruse. But she’s still sore after everything that’s happened this year, and Lizzie needs to be there for her. After all, it’s Christmas. 

Hope obliges without an argument.

  
  
  
  


The next morning, Hope asks G-Pa about the surrounding woods. How close are the nearest neighbors, what kind of animals are in the area, hunting seasons and such. She explains that she finds the holidays stressful and just wants to go for a run. 

  
  
  
  


That night and the next few, she dips out after dinner for a few hours. The bitter cold nips at her nose, the snow chilling her paws, and the forest smells different than it does in Virginia, but it helps. She hunts a few deer but never harms them. Gets several miles away from the Saltzman property but always finds her way back. 

  
  
  
  


She misses her family. She misses Landon. 

  
  
  
  


She could strangle Hope Mikaelson, she really could. In a renewed spirit of goodwill, Josie got them invited to this New Years’ Eve party hosted by a local coven. Instead of being halfway to drunk, Lizzie stomps through the snow in the woods. 

“Uh, _ hello_?” she calls out, her breath thick gusts of white in front of her face. “If you don’t get your she-wolf ass over here… Hope!”

A white wolf with gold eyes and bristling fur stares from where she’s half-hidden by a cluster of trees. Her head bows a degree, a snarl ripping from her jaws.

“So, you’re mad at me, too? Just my luck I get stuck with the world’s two moodiest witches for winter break.”

The wolf backs into the brush and is out of sight within seconds.

Lizzie kicks at a clod of snow. “Well, bully for both of you because I just wanted to have a nice, friendly break from the boys, from monsters. From the insanity that lives outside my head!”

The party was in full swing when she left, the clock ticking closer to midnight. She could be making out with some hot warlock right about now, not trolling through the backwoods of her grandfather’s property.

The curvy teenage girl stands where the wolf did. She throws her hair in a high ponytail and steps forward. 

Her eye catches something. She tilts her head to the side and reaches for Lizzie’s ear. The thin metal brings her back to earth. 

“You’re wearing them?” Hope’s gift to Lizzie was a pair of hoop earrings. She seemed to have loved the present when she first opened it but had yet to put them on.

“They’re white gold. Of course I’m wearing them,” she huffs.

Her running jacket is unzipped, her black sports bra and flat stomach on full display. The cold doesn’t bother her. Meanwhile, Lizzie is freezing in her slinky silver dress. Hope mutters a warming spell. 

“Thank you,” the shivering girl says. Hope’s distance during the past week as left her magic and friend-less.

“Sorry for making things _ weirder. _I’d never want to come between you and Josie.”

“I get it. But you don’t get to shut me out like that. Not when we finally got the band back together again.”

A smile tugs at the corner of her mouth. “You’re right.”

Lizzie extends her arms in a gesture of forgiveness and Hope steps in. They envelope one another in a hug only to be interrupted by the neighbors setting off firecrackers. The sky soon erupts in fireworks, dazzling colors lighting up the sky. 

It’s a quick but determined choice. 

After flicking the tail of auburn hair off the shorter girl’s shoulder, Lizzie presses her glossy lips to Hope’s then pulls back before she can react. The imprint lingers, sticky strawberry flavored residue having transferred. 

Blue eyes glance up. 

“What?” the blonde smirks with a shrug. “I wanted to kiss my girlfriend at midnight.”

  
  
  
  
  


The entire drive back to Mystic Falls, the tribrid sleeps on the siphon’s shoulder. Gazing at the passing scenery of bare trees and melting snow, she absentmindedly plays with one of her hoops. 


End file.
